While in the Daytona area June of 2017 we were able to visit the famous Daytona International Speedway. It was so cool. I love sports, but car racing is not the first thing I think about. However touring their facility was something I was eager to do. It sounded quite interesting, and we were not disappointed. Well Gene was a little, but I will explain more in a few.
There are three tours available daily. They are the Speedway Tour, the All Access Tour, and the VIP Tour. All Daytona International Speedway Tours are conducted on an open-air tram and coast along with turns 3 and 4 before ending next to the car of that year’s Daytona 500 champion.
With the All-Access Tour you also get face-to-face with the track as you visit the well-known start/finish line and 31-degree high banks or ride down pit road to get a close-up view of the pit stalls. You also get to visit the media deadline room and get a photo in Gatorade Victory Lane. You also get a look inside the world’s first motorsports stadium. This is achieved by hopping onto one of the 40 escalators and being transported into the new front-stretch stadium. Apparently, there are stunning views of the trioval and infield. Sadly, we didn’t take this tour, but I would enjoy doing it the next time we are in the area.
If you really want an experience, take the VIP Tour. On this tour, you also get to visit the ISC’s Archives and Research Center. The center holds many of racing’s most treasured artifacts, including Sir Malcolm Campbell’s Bluebird III. This tour is capped off by a visit to the tower above the Houston Lawing Press Box, which overlooks it all. That has to be pretty amazing. It is more expensive, obviously, but sounds incredible.
Regardless of which tour you take, at the conclusion, you have access to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. Now housed in the DIS Ticket and Tours Building, there are spectacular displays honoring all forms of motorsports: Stock Cars, Sports Cars, Open-Wheel, Motorcycles, Drag Racing, Land Speed Records, Powerboating, and Aviation. Gene is into aviation, so that was quite interesting to him.
I found it so amazing to be going around the same track and same turns as some of the greats. Sadly, we didn’t go very fast at all, which is what really disappointed Gene. He was hoping for some speed, lol. The tour guide suggested one of the Richard Petty driving experiences, but they are really expensive. Maybe I will save up and surprise Gene one day for his birthday. 🙂 In the meantime, we enjoyed seeing everything as we went around and the tour guide explained a few things.
We had a great time at the Daytona International Speedway, and it was quite interesting. We didn’t do the All Access Tour, which is still disappointing to me. Hopefully, the next time we are in the area we will do another tour and really get to experience more. Here is a link to their website with hours, pricing, etc. I will finish this post with one piece of historical date: The track held its inaugural Daytona 500 on February 22, 1959. So much has changed since then.
Daytona International Speedway Visitor Information
Tours run daily and leave every forty-five minutes from 9:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. and last about 60 minutes. Tour tickets are $20 for Adults, $15 for kids age 5 to 12 and free for kids under 5.
Accessibility: Daytona International Speedway welcomes its guests with disabilities and provides numerous accessible features. If you have any questions about disability services or other fan amenities that the Speedway provides, please do not hesitate to ask a member of their staff or call the office at 386-681-6888 or TTY/TDD 1-866-ISC-TRAK (472-8725).
